Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Abstract: Personal and official papers, chiefly as Naval Agent and Charge d'Affaires, U.S. Legation, Korea, and as representative, American
Trading Company, in Japan. Includes a copy of a letter from President Chester A. Arthur.
A diary, 1884, of travel in Korea, miscellaneous records for his U.S. Navy service, photographs and a few printed items, included.
Also, a small group of correspondence of Harold J. Noble with member of the Foulk family, 1927-1928.

Languages Represented:
English

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.

George Clayton Foulke, born in Marietta, Pennsylvania, in 1856, was graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1876
and served for two years in the Far East. Following a trip across Siberia in 1882, he accepted a post at the Naval Library
in Washington, D.C. In 1884 he was appointed Naval Attache to the American Legation in Korea, and with the resignation of
the minister in 1885 he became chief United States representative at the court of the Korean king. Although he was invited
to become the personal advisor to that monarch, Foulke resigned his commission in 1887 and with his Japanese wife took up
residence at Kyoto. The two years 1888-1890 were spent in the employ of the American Trading Company at Yokohama, following
which he accepted a position as professor of mathematics at Doshisha College, Kyoto, where he remained until his death, in
1893.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of Foulke's personal and official papers, chiefly as Naval Agent and Charge d'Affaires, U.S. Legation,
Korea, and as representative, American Trading Company in Japan. It includes miscellaneous records for his U.S. Navy service,
including official Navy orders and pay orders; a diary of travel in Korea in 1884; photographs of Foulke, his wife, and Japanese
friends; and miscellaneous manuscript and printed items. It also includes a small group of correspondence of Harold J. Noble
with members of the Foulke family.

The collection was acquired by Harold J. Noble in Korea during the years 1926-1929, and was presented to the Library, along
with the Noble Papers, by Mrs. Noble in 1956.